


Undying Loyalty

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 11:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5331989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A dubious disappearance and mysterious electrical fluctuations. All in a day's work for Rose and the Torchwood Extra-Earthly Bodies Committee.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Undying Loyalty

**Author's Note:**

> From an [ersatz genremixer](http://www.seasip.info/Misc/genremixer.html?people=Susan:Vicki:Ian:Barbara:Dodo:Katarina:Polly:Ben:Jamie:Victoria:Zo%C3%AB:Liz:Jo:Sarah%20Jane:Leela:Romana:Adric:Nyssa:Tegan:Peri:Turlough:Mel:Ace:Rose:Martha:Mickey:Amy:Rory:Donna:Clara&cpp=2&tpp=0&prompts=20&tl=6&nsfw=false) prompt: Rose / Adric - vampires & electricity & theft

"So that's settled," Jake said, looking round the table at his colleagues. "Addie, you'll be getting onto the Beast of Bognor..." 

"In his dreams," Adeola quipped. There was a ripple of laughter round the table. 

Jake flicked through his notes. "Malcolm, you'll be looking into those people in North Greenwich getting knocked out." 

The Torchwood Extra-Earthly Bodies Committee's technical consultant nodded. "Could be Cyberman tech. I've seen this sort of thing before." 

"Right, then." Jake closed his notepad. "Any other business? Meeting closed, then." 

As the group broke up, Jake drew Rose to one side. 

"Can I have a word?" he asked. 

Rose nodded. "'Course." 

"I got this email from a mate. There's probably nothing in it — Mike isn't a trained investigator or anything — but, well, see for yourself." 

Having read the email, Rose was inclined to agree. Behind a great deal of verbiage, all that Mike could actually point at was a few flickering lights, and a shaky chain of suspicion that somebody unknown to him had been kidnapped. 

"So this girl who went past his house and never came back," Rose said. "OK, it's a dead end, she should have gone past the other way. But he could've just missed her. Or maybe she was going to someone's house and stayed late, and he was asleep when she came back." 

Jake nodded. "Or there's a back way out he doesn't know about. It doesn't mean that much by itself. So I asked Electrocom if they'd looked into power fluctuations in that area." 

"And?" 

"They'd had a few complaints. They've scheduled a technician to investigate. And I was wondering..." 

Rose, despite herself, found she was grinning. "If I'd be the technician?" 

"That's about the size of it. We'd be monitoring you, of course, just in case of..." 

"Yeah, I know all about 'in case of.'" Rose grinned again. "When do I start?" 

⁂

Dressed as an electrical technician, with Malcolm's finest listening devices concealed throughout her uniform, Rose approached the far end of the cul-de-sac. The houses in this road were tall and narrow, mostly subdivided into flats, becoming more decrepit the further she went. 

The next house in the row was Number Three. Its letterbox was stuffed with fliers and free newspapers, its windows grubby and curtainless. For form's sake she walked up the steps to the front door and rang the doorbell. Or at least pressed the button; she heard no answering ring. 

That was it for the bulk of the house. But this house had a basement flat, its entrance door reached by a narrow, mean flight of steps, and Rose now turned her attention to this. Having descended the steps, she looked around for a bell push. There wasn't one, so she knocked on the peeling door. 

It swung open, revealing a bare, ill-lit room. 

Pulling out her torch, Rose advanced into the basement. The floorboards were bare, save for a few yellowed sheets of newsprint. Casting around, she spotted the electricity meter and brought her torch to bear on it. It was covered in dust, but dust with recent fingerprints in it. Whoever had left the fingerprints was most likely also the person who had broken the seal on the terminals, and connected a highly unauthorised pair of extra wires. 

With the light of her torch, she traced the extra connection. It ran round the edge of the room, and under a closed door at the back of the room. Not giving herself time for second thoughts, Rose crossed the room and reached for the door handle— 

"Hello," a voice said, behind her. 

Rose jumped, and spun round. A dark-haired lad, perhaps her age or a bit younger, was standing between her and the front door. His costume was of a curious, almost mediæval design, russet in colour. 

"I'm Adric," the newcomer went on. "What are you doing here?" 

"Come to look at the wiring, haven't I?" Rose retorted, playing up the rôle of put-upon technician for all she was worth. "Electrocom's been getting complaints. Was it you that mucked around with the meter? Could've killed yourself. Or started a fire." 

"I didn't," Adric began, but it was once of the least convincing denials Rose had ever heard. "They made me." 

"What d'you mean, they? Who made you?" 

"I'll show you." He put his hand on her arm, and looked up at her. "Please, you've got to see it. Then you'll understand." 

Rose nodded, slowly. "OK. But no funny business." 

"Thank you, Rose." 

_How did he know my name?_ Rose thought, as Adric opened the door. Then, almost at once, _He read my namebadge, of course. Stop chasing shadows, Rose Tyler._

Adric gestured to the door. "In here." 

"You first," Rose said, raising her torch. 

Making no further protest, Adric scurried through the door. Rose followed him, and shone her torch around the back room. It had, by the look of the furnishings, originally been a kitchen. A tall refrigerator stood against one wall, whirring softly; its flex snaked across the floor and connected to the unauthorised cable Rose had followed. It wasn't the only such connection; several other wires emerged from the rat's nest of cables and disappeared into the shadows. 

"What's it all about, then?" Rose asked, picking her way across the floor and taking care not to trip on any of the wires. "Something's in the fridge, I get that. Something worth stealing electricity for. Drugs?" 

She reached the refrigerator, and swung the door open. Its light came on, revealing row after row of bottles, neatly stacked in lines. Bottles full to the brim with crimson liquid. 

"What the..." she began. She didn't get a chance to complete the sentence. 

⁂

The next thing Rose remembered, she was waking from a confused dream about a black castle towering over shadowy pine forests. Her head felt sore, her body cold, and she couldn't move. Gradually, as the haze of the dream cleared away, she realised she was lying on her back, on what felt like stone or concrete. Her clothes had been taken; she was wearing nothing but a nightdress that felt all too thin. And her hands and legs were firmly tied. Above her, all she could see was the vague suggestion of another part of the cellar, lit only by candlelight. 

At the sound of a hesitant noise, she looked up. Adric was leaning over her. 

"Sorry, Rose," he said. "They said I had to prove my loyalty." 

"Who's 'they?'" Rose snapped back. "What's going on here?" 

"It should not be difficult for an intelligent young lady such as yourself to guess," a man's voice answered. Another face appeared in her field of view; middle-aged, bearded, pale, with deeply shadowed eyes. 

"Are you... You're a vampire, aren't you?" Rose made sure to speak loudly and clearly. It was only a vague hope that her clothes were still nearby, and that whoever had stripped her hadn't disabled the various bugging devices in them. "That stuff in the fridge was blood." 

In answer, her captor simply bared his fangs. 

"So that girl that Mike saw... it's her blood in the fridge?" 

"Possibly." 

"And Adric?" Rose looked up at the pair of them. "He works for you?" 

The vampire chuckled. "He very properly deserted his former master to join us. Not being fools, we gave him various opportunities to demonstrate his commitment to our cause. Of course, if he had disappointed us, his life would have ended there and then." 

"I didn't have any choice!" Adric interjected, sounding almost petulant. 

"And now we have proof of his loyalty..." The vampire aimed a pointed finger at Rose. "You shall be his reward, my dear." He patted Adric on the shoulder. "You may drain her dry." 

Adric, still looking hesitant, leaned over Rose. 

"Don't you even think about it!" Rose shouted. She struggled against her bonds, but to no avail. 

"Go on." The vampire's hand closed on Adric's shoulder, and this time stayed there. "Don't disappoint me, Adric. And don't imagine that if you back away, I shall spare her life. Drink every drop of her blood, or I shall take her for myself." 

Adric leaned closer, towards Rose's neck. His chilly hands were on her arm; a curious warmth and lassitude seemed to spread from them through Rose's body. She no longer had any thoughts of escape, of resistance, of anything other than complete and utter submission. With a sigh, she closed her eyes, and prepared to sink into her final rest... 

The flash of purple-white light was bright enough to be painful even through Rose's closed eyelids. It was followed by an ear-piercing shriek, and, simultaneously, the 'whoomph' of something large bursting into flame. Rose opened her eyes; coloured afterimages danced before them, but she could clearly see that the vampire was now engulfed in a column of flame. 

"Stand down, soldiers." It was the Doctor's voice; Rose's heart leapt at the sound of it. A moment later he was beside her, untying the ropes and pulling her to her feet. 

"Are you hurt?" he asked; she realised that one of his hands was on her wrist, checking her pulse. "Did they get you?" 

Rose shook her head. "No. I'm fine. I'm fine." Shaking, she more or less fell into his arms. "Did you hear what happened?" 

"Yeah, the whole thing. They just threw your clothes in the corner. So thanks to you, we knew just what to expect." He glanced at the smouldering heap of ashes. "That UV mini-rocket worked a treat, after all. You can never tell with Malcolm, can you?" 

"No, s'pose not." Rose laughed weakly. "Can we go, now?" 

"Yeah, we can leave the cleanup to Jake and his merry men." The Doctor looked around, and seemed to notice Adric for the first time, under guard between two burly soldiers. "They can deal with him, too." 

"You mean kill him?" Rose demanded. 

"He's a vampire," the Doctor said flatly. "And he tried to kill you. I don't like that, in a person." 

"I know. No second chances: you're that kind of man." Rose took a closer look at Adric. His face and hands were red and blistered, his expression one of abject misery. "Look, he didn't want to be a vampire. They made him do all that stuff. Or he'd have been killed." 

"Rose, I know that look..." the Doctor began. 

"Look, the vampires gave him a chance to prove himself," Rose went on. "Are you saying you're worse than them?" 

"You won't believe how much worse," the Doctor said, but it was no more than a token protest. "All right, Rose, you win. He's coming back to the Institute with us." He gave their sullen captive another glance. "I just hope it turns out better than last time."


End file.
